As technological capabilities increase on the Internet, so to do the innovations that many websites and companies offer. Personalisation of websites is fast becoming an essential feature for most major companies in a wide range of industries, ranging from retail to news and education.
Personalisation refers to the field of adaptive website design; tailoring a website to display content that is specifically tailored for each individual reader. The goal of this is that through greater personalisation, people will be more responsive to the website, therefore increasing brand image and driving conversions.
Businesses are often inexperienced at achieving this, and new efforts can be potentially damaging to both brand and success, so it is worth investing in experts who understand the field inside and out, and the best ways to reach your customers directly.
The king of online personalisation is Google with their advertising and search services. Google use data that has been gathered through small pieces of website data known as ‘cookies.’ These can hold private and non-personally identifiable information such as what websites you have visited and your location and Google uses this to tailor ads for each user accordingly.
Websites rarely go this far, but rely on the same principle – and most commonly, this is done through social media.
Facebook in particular is driving this push, and is the easiest way to make your website more personalised and targeted to specific groups. The most well known symbol of personalisation is the Facebook ‘Like’ button – which can be added to any page or post on a website. When someone with a Facebook account clicks this, the page they are on can be shared with their entire group of friends – effectively bringing new traffic to the website because the recommendation is from a trusted source.
Other social media channels such as Twitter, Pinterest and Linkedin offer similar functionality, such as seeing which friends/contacts have visited the website, what they have bought or looked at and their reviews. There are many personalisation’s can be utilised, and one area which has been vastly underutilised is in B2B sales – when considering how far this could reach in gaining both individual interest on business oriented social media channels.
Other examples of personalised content include email newsletters, content pop-ups on pages such as a welcome message, and promotions for return customers. Personalisation can also be based around interactivity, such as giving the viewer options on how to view the site – e.g. what colour scheme to use, or how to filter content.
Giving the user choice is a very powerful sales tool. Innovations such as these can be greatly rewarding. 28K has developed a deep understanding of brand specific personalisation, so speak with us now to discover what can be done to enhance your organisation’s online marketing!
